


Hot Hot Tater Tot

by JamtheDingus



Series: You Are Beautiful [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emetophobia, Heat Stroke, M/M, Sad Ending-ish, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Swearing, body horror briefly mentioned in the third chapter, not as dark as the tags imply? but also not as silly as the chapter title makes it sound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8191201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamtheDingus/pseuds/JamtheDingus
Summary: Allura suggests an exercise where the paladins go to a (for real) uninhabited planet and try to survive. Totally controlled, and constant communication with the castle, so no threat of death. Keith doesn't seem to want to follow Lance's advice and take his clothes off, though.





	1. Partner Up

**Author's Note:**

> spoiler: keith fuckin dies :\

“Listen up, paladins!” Allura commanded from the middle of the room, eyes sparkling in excitement. The five teens immediately ceased their various conversations, and turned to listen to the princess.

“Today, I’ve decided that it’s important you train for emergencies. Specifically, being forced to fend for yourself on a foreign planet.”

Coran stepped forward for his part of the speech. “As it stands, you all are getting very in tune with each other, thus allowing you to form Voltron that much easier. However, there will be times where you must choose to flee instead of fight. This test is to not only give you a chance to work on teamwork, but allow you to see your strengths and weaknesses.”

Allura nodded. “Thank you, Coran. Now I’ve decided that it would be best to split you into two groups.” She began to pull up her map, rotating it to a tiny planet. “This is Claenea, sixty-third planet from the sun in the system of Ror 563. As you can probably guess, it’s very cold.”

She turned to the yellow and green paladins. “Hunk and Pidge, I will be sending you there. Be sure to keep each other warm.”

The taller legendary defender grinned and threw his arm around Pidge’s shoulders. “It’s gonna be amazing! I’m like, the _best_ heater. If it weren’t for these suits that regulate everything, you all would be feeling waves coming from me.”

“He’s… not lying.” Pidge said. “There’s at least a 3% increase of temperature whenever Hunk walks into a room. I’ve checked, because he melted my Caesium sample once, even though he was only standing next to it. _And_ the room was like 20 degrees colder than it usually was. Of course I have to factor in the fact that Caesium has a relatively low melting point at 28-”

“How about you explain that later, Pidgeon?” Lance came up behind their resident nerd as Allura’s annoyed look only grew.

“That’s not my-!” Hunk and Lance covered Pidge’s mouth quickly. “Mmph.”

“Moving on…” Allura began again. “The second planet is Gaevois of the Devoboid Nebula in the Limra colonies.” The map moved again to a planet about the size of Neptune, though it’s color was more like Saturn or Jupiter.

“It has two suns, no dark night cycles. Half of it is gaseous, and the other half is made of something similar to your Earth’s crust composition.”

Allura turned to make sure her information was correct. “Lance and Keith will be on that planet.”

“Oh, I get it. You want us to go to lower the temperature, right?” Lance grinned.

“I… I’m not sure I follow?” Allura turned to acknowledge the blue paladin.

“You know, since I’m such a cool dude and Keith…” He turned to Keith. “Keith is just plain cold.”

Coran smothered a laugh in the background. Allura rolled her eyes, quickly skimming over the terrible joke.

“Shiro will be staying up here with Coran and I, in case something goes wrong and any of you need immediate extraction. Of course, you will be going with your Lions, but I prefer that the supplies inside not be used unless it is an extreme emergency.”

Allura motioned for Shiro to step forward for one of his normal pre-practice pep talks. _PPPT’s_ , Lance called them.

“Alright, team. I want you to keep each other safe out there. I know we’ve all gotten closer ever since we got chosen to command the Lions, but I just want to be sure nothing bad happens down there that could have been prevented with a little teamwork. Understood?”

Various levels of affirmation responded, so Shiro continued. “Try to keep your communicators clear unless it’s an emergency. The planets showed up as uninhabited, but you never know what could have happened since the Castle’s logs last updated. You only have to last for three days, but at least try to pretend it’s more serious than that.” With a pointed look at the younger paladins, he let his features soften. “Good luck out there, cadets.”

Lance saluted. “Yessir, we’ve got this! As long as Keith doesn’t get too jealous of my ultra-cool moves.” He demonstrated said move by karate chopping the air.

Keith sighed, grabbing Lance by the neck of his shirt and dragging him towards the hall. “The only thing I’m jealous of is your ability to _not_ get punched every single day.”

_“Called it!”_

The paladins made it to their Lions with little to no rough-housing. They met up in space for one final goodbye, before they split up into pairs and flew off to their respective planets. Pidge and Hunk needed a wormhole to get there, but Keith and Lance’s planet was only a ten-minute fly.

Finding a suitable place to land on the non-gaseous side of Gaevois took a bit longer, though. Eventually, they found a spot that had the least amount of solar interference, and landed quickly.

Once confirming with the Castle of Lions that they touched down safely, and were out of their Lions, the paladins were on their own. The Lions put up their shields, probably at the request of Allura, and the two were alone with each other.

“So what should we do first?” Lance asked, pulling his helmet off. Already, he felt himself beginning to sweat. He knew once they got back, he would be taking a very long, very soothing shower.

“Probably find some water.”

“Bet I can find some before you do.”

Keith grinned, pulling off his own helmet and shaking the humidity away like a dog after a bath. Then, the two boys grabbed each other’s hands in a tight grip as a show of dominance.

“You’re on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I BELATEDLY REALIZED I FORGOT TO CHANGE THE TITLE BUT I HONESTLY CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER ANYMORE??????


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets shit done, and Lance just does what Lances do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not much happens this chapter, other than LOTS of dialogue, but the next (aka the final chapter) is gonna be a doozy.

Turns out, it was easier said than done. The blinding heat only seemed to get more intense as time passed, and there was hardly any shade. Because of the extreme temperatures, trees and plant-life were minimal. Lance was sure the sweat dripping off of him evaporated as soon as it hit the dry, cracked dirt. His helmet was left with his Lion, and his paladin armor was slowly but surely coming off as he and Keith continued on their quest for water.

“Ughhh.” Lance groaned for the fifteenth time in four minutes. “I just wanna call it quits already.”

“I thought you were on a mission to bring down the planet’s temperature, or whatever?” Keith asked, digging his heel into a patch of brown grass. There was probably water nearby, right? At least, close enough for it to have grown.

“It didn’t work. I give up.” Lance collapsed on the sand, his bundled up armor rolling a few feet away as he began to kick his legs up and down.

“That’s just gonna make you sweat more.” Keith scolded, a frown already present on his face.

“I’m all sweated out! It’s past the point of feeling like a sauna, and more like Satan is blowing his breath up my asshole.”

“Ew.” The red paladin kicked Lance’s thigh, both because of the gross mental image and to get him off the ground. “Get up. There’s probably some water close.”

“And how do you know, hot stuff?” Lance grunted, dusting the sand off his butt and gathering up his belongings again. Keith passed him a shin guard.

“Because there are plants nearby, stupid. They’re obviously sucking water from something.”

“Yeah, my _skin_. Do you know what dehydration _does_ to skin as fabulous as mine?”

“Dries it out?”

“Exactly!” Lance threw his hands up, and Keith caught the white and blue chestplate before it socked him in the cheek.

“Just shut up and follow me.” He said, throwing it back at Lance and ignoring the way he fumbled with his disassembled outfit. It was his fault for taking it off.

A few minutes of walking in the direction Keith thought was right, Lance was still stomping all over what was left of Keith’s nerves. But he forced himself to continue ignoring the taller boy, instead focusing on the thickness of the grass. They were close, he was absolutely sure of this. He hoped so, anyway. Sweat was sloshing in his shoes like he'd stepped in a bucket of water.

“- and now we’re gonna die out here because Nature Boy thinks he can speak to grass.” Lance’s voice filtered through Keith’s ears. His eyebrow twitched, but he bit his tongue for now. It really was hot out there, though. Keith decided he wasn’t going to start stripping his armor until they found some water first.

Speaking of, he stopped abruptly and Lance crashed into his back. “What- the hell!” He griped, and began to pick up his armor pieces again as they rolled like gumballs on concrete.

“Lance, will you be quiet for one minute of your life?” Keith scowled, grabbing onto the darker-skinned man’s wrist. “Now, come here." He dragged the other paladin to a lump in the ground. They glanced at each other, and Keith felt a bead of sweat drip down his leg. Gross. Said lump had green grass over top it, though. The first bunch of green they'd seen since they first landed. 

He kicked it.

The ground began to vibrate and the two boys made matching noises of alarm, grabbing at each other; pushing each other away and running like their lives depended on it. When Lance slipped on the shaky ground, Keith was there to pull him back up and keep him running.

They found a small shrub, most of which crumbled immediately and fell at their feet, but they hid until the vibration stopped. Lance looked up first, shortly followed by Keith, and the two looked like meerkats whose home just got intruded by a warthog.

“What was that?”

“I don’t -” A pop, sort of like one from a balloon, came from the area they had evacuated, and both immediately hid back behind the dead shrub. The blue paladin glared at him until the ground stopped shaking, but Keith just shrugged.

Lance cleared his throat, crawling out from behind their hidey-hole. “I can’t believe you were about to blow us up. Because of _grass_. You’re so- Holy…”

“What?”

“Water!” Lance dashed back to the lump, which had exploded like a geyser and a flood of water was flowing out. It was kind of like Old Faithful, but less lethal and more like a spout. It was like rain, and _god_ did Lance miss rain. The closest he'd seen to it, besides this, were the showers in the Castle of Lions. He opened his mouth and was trying to catch the droplets like snowflakes when Keith elbowed him.

“We gotta test it first.”

“Party-pooper.”

Five minutes later, after Keith had managed to test the water and keep Lance out of it, the boys collected enough to last them for a week. They'd been supplied with containers full of human-health based bars, empty bottles for water, and medical supplies (just in case). All of which was stuffed in a tiny bag that must have been about as magical as the Castle once, because it was so  _tiny._

“I guess we’ll just come back later if we need it.”

“We got lucky as hell.” Lance laughed, wiping sweat with the back of his sleeve. “Now we just gotta find shelter.”

“Covered.” Keith tossed a thumb over his shoulder. “There was a cave thing back that way.”

“And you’re saying this now? I could’ve dropped my stuff off like forever ago!”

“I like seeing you suffer.” Keith deadpanned. “Come on.”

This time, Keith helped Lance carry his armor. It was soaked in both water and sweat, and the blue paladin was truly struggling with all of the pieces. Plus, he'd managed to get covered in mud from his temper tantrum before. Basically, he looked like a wreck. Keith felt sorry for the guy. 

It took a while to drag all of it back, and Keith was **_this_** close to punching Lance in the throat, with all of his snide remarks, but they made it. ‘It’ being a hole in the ground, which ramped down to an underground cave.

“Cool…” Lance breathed, flipping his wet hair from his eyes. He fanned himself. “It’s still hot as hell down here, though.”

Keith agreed, but didn’t voice it. Instead, he unceremoniously dropped the heavy weight in a corner and began shedding his own. Lance neatly stacked the water bottles against a wall. He hummed some sort of melody, but it wasn’t too annoying so the red paladin didn’t bother telling him to stop. Once he’d stripped down to the black bodysuit that came with their armor, he worried his bottom lip. It wasn’t hot enough to shed the thing yet, he convinced himself.

Instead, he rubbed his palms together and slumped against a wall.

“You good, buddy?” Lance asked, interrupting his song. “You look a little hot around the collar.”

“Haha.” Keith glared. The other boy just grinned and went back to humming. If he was well enough to be sarcastic, he was fine.

Keith leaned his head against the wall of the cave, uncaring as dirt sprinkled down and mixed with his hair. He inhaled slowly and brought his legs up to his chest, leaning his head on the knees. It was _hot_. He couldn’t feel anything but humidity, and he was struggling to breathe. He would get used to it, though. It reminded him of the desert, back on Earth.

He glanced at Lance, who was carving something into the wall with his pinky... ‘Lance was here’. Then, shook his head. The desert was behind him, now. He was a paladin of Voltron. He was going to help save the universe. It felt good to be a part of something that would do so much.

“Hey, Keith. What are we supposed to do for three days to keep ourselves entertained?”

“Stay alive.”

Lance gave him a blasé look. “Other than that, obviously. You’re no fun.” He laid flat against the ground and groaned. “I wish Hunk was here.”

“Didn’t Pidge say something about him being 3% hotter than everyone else, or something?”

Lance got that one look on his face that just spelled trouble for Keith.

“Are you saying Hunk is hot, Keithy-boy?” He grinned and Keith’s heart seemed to skip a beat. It was no secret that Hunk was a good looking guy. Add that, plus his smarts and his personality, and you had yourself grade A ~~boy~~ friend material.

Keith didn’t let Lance know that, though. He definitely didn’t let him know that it was a common thing for him to think about. Instead of answering, he grabbed a water bottle and quickly began drinking. Lance, though, had other plans. The look only grew more troublesome by the second.

Finally, trying to look nonchalant, he shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, okay. I get it... you’re _thirsty_ for Hunk.”

Keith tried to hold it in. He really did. But he failed; water spurted everywhere, and Lance screeched as it soaked him from head to toe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that's one way to make someone wet for you
> 
> also be careful for next chapter, it's gonna have some heavy shit. pure, unadulterated self-loathing.


	3. tired of all the pain, of the misery inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith progressively gets worst by the second day. Luckily, he had Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for body horror (it's not super bad, but it can still be potentially triggering so watch out!)
> 
> also it's not as heavy as it could've been, i think... i felt so bad for bullying our poor emo child, tho.... ;o;
> 
> and just for anyone who's curious: the chapter title is a reference to 'bad apple' sung by rockleetist and ashe on youtube.

The next day, Lance was still griping about the spit-take. “I’m so mad at you.” He fumed, running his fingers through his brown hair. Keith wondered if it was as soft as it looked.

“It’s your own fault. It’s already dry, anyway.” Well, as dry as it would get without Lance stripping completely nude. Keith was sure the blue paladin was close to doing so anyway.

“Yeah, but now I have Keith cooties.”

Keith didn't grace that with a response. Instead he chose to close his eyes and focus on the throbbing in his head. It had gotten worse during the night, as did his breathing. This heat was _definitely_ not like the desert.

There, it was a dry heat. Sure, he sweat, but a quick pat with a towel or something and he would be fine. You could find yourself some shade to sit for a few minutes, maybe under a cliff. But here…

Here it was wet, heavy, and absolutely everywhere. No towels to take the moisture away, and the shade was useless. There was no escaping it, and even the water they'd collected was starting to warm up, so there was no chance of taking a cool shower.

Not that he would. Lance would probably be watching him, and he couldn't- _he would hate you if he saw_ -

He held his breath as Lance shuffled around, and Keith caught sight of his toned, flat stomach. The other male had decided enough was enough that morning and had peeled off the sticky, sweaty layer that was his spandex suit, rolling it down to his waist.

Slowly but surely, it was dipping even lower. Dangerously so.

When Keith realized that Lance was asking him a question, all of the breath he was holding escaped him at once and he sat up off of the ground. He dragged one hand across his face, trying to get his eyes to focus.

“What?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I _said_ , ‘why don't you get more comfortable?’ It's dangerous to get overheated.”

He expected a joke to come, but Lance just looked at him earnestly. “I'm fine.” Keith averted his gaze. His stomach felt cramped, and he wasn't sure if it was from the way Lance actually sounded concerned for him, or if he was just hungry. Probably a mix of both.

Keith changed the subject.

“Here.” He reached into their tiny, magic bag of wonder and pulled out two nutritional supplements for each of them.

Lance stuck his tongue out in disgust, but allowed the red paladin to drop the tablets in his hand. “I can't believe we have to eat these instead of real food...”

“We don't have much of a choice, since we can't exactly scavenge on this planet. We're just lucky Coran packed some for us.”

“Lucky my ass.” Lance grumbled, swallowing down the horse pills with a few gulps of water. “I can't wait to get back to real food.”

“The goo?”

“I meant something like pizza, but honestly… goo is sounding pretty good.”

“We only have two more days.”

“37 hours, actually.” At Keith's look, Lance shrugged.

“I got bored, so I made a countdown.” Lance motioned to the wall on his side, which had been scratched at in various places. Excluding the ‘Lance was here’ from the day before and the various pictures of what seemed to be said pilot defeating a bunch of bad guys, there were a plethora of lines, neatly dug into the wall.

“When did you make that?”

“You were sleeping and I got bored.”

Keith shook his head, flinging sweat with each movement. “I’d hate to see you in something like solitary confinement. You’d go nuts.” He also would hate to see Lance in something like that. The taller paladin was such an extroverted person; it would probably kill him.

“Which is why I’m glad I have my ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, mullet-boy Keith to keep me company.” He paused, then one side of his mouth twinged upwards. “Keith me company.”

“I hate you.”

Lance waggled his eyebrows, grabbing Keith around the shoulders and hanging off him like a koala. _Too close._ “You love my puns.”

“In your _dreams_.” Keith shoved him away, rougher than intended, and then flopped back down to look at the ceiling. He placed his hand over his stomach before glancing back at Lance, who had rolled back to his corner and was carving into the wall again, chattering away at something or another.

Keith grunted in response occasionally, digging his nails into the fabric that covered him; that kept Lance’s eyes from seeing his body and changing from that goofy, annoying brightness to a dark, revolted leer.

He wouldn’t be able to stand it. Surely, someone like Lance wouldn’t hate him just because he looked so… gross. Right? Keith didn’t want to think about the answer, even as a resounding ‘Wrong.’ echoed through his brain. So he rolled over, and began to count the cracks on the wall in front of him, trying to calm his flurried heart.

A blink between 99 and 100, he fell asleep.

In his dreams, he was brave enough to follow Lance’s lead and pull down his skintight suit. He was brave enough to look the other paladin in the eye and tell him that he knew he was ugly, and he didn’t care.

But he _did_ care. So much. He desperately wanted Lance’s approval; to know if the boy thought Keith was as beautiful as he was. So when Lance’s lip upturned, and a hate-filled insult was hurled his way, the bravado was shattered so easily.

Then, the other paladins were there. They stared at him, and he couldn’t hide from their petrifying gazes. Shiro - oh god, even Shiro was giving him that look. Like he was an abomination. The princess, Coran, and even Pidge were wearing scornful looks as he collapsed in on himself. Hunk, his usually kind eyes turned away from him in abhorrence. ‘ _Please, help me.’_ Keith wanted to beg him. ‘ _Tell me you don’t hate me, too_.’

His clothes were gone; disappearing in the blink of an eye. He tried to shield himself, wrapping his arms around his body, but they’d already seen. They stared right through him, and their rancorous insults spilled over his skin like boiling magma.

A shadow cast itself over his body, and his head shakily turned up towards it.

Lance.

_No, no- Please!_

Lance stooped down to his eye level and Keith felt tears overflow down his cheeks. “P-please…”

“Keith.” _Ugly._

“No… I’m…”

_You know you are. You don’t deserve to be in front of them... in front of him._

“Keith!”

Lance had disappeared. They all did. Keith couldn’t stop shaking, and he felt like his skin was being ripped from his body as the floor beneath him shattered, falling into the nothing. It grabbed at his arms, and he couldn’t move- but he needed to get away! He couldn’t!

_“Keith!”_

He screeched as he was forced awake, struggling as something held him down.

“Keith, it’s me! Wake up!” Lance was shouting, and Keith’s eyes cracked open. The light was blinding as he caught full view of the sky. No, not the sky. Lance… his beautiful eyes. Keith lost himself in them like a vortex of blue. The beads of sweat dripped down his neck, and he couldn’t help but follow the trail. They dipped over the growing notches of Lance’s abs, adding a tantalizing sheen as they only moved lower and lower.

Keith shuddered.

“It’s just a dream buddy… A bad dream. It’s okay.” Lance hummed, slowly letting his grip relax against Keith’s wrists. “It’s okay.”

“I…” Keith clenched his eyes shut. He was fine. They were just doing a team exercise. The others hadn’t seen him; they didn’t think that...

_Oh, really?_

“I knew I should’ve been more insistent.” Lance said, pressing his forehead against the red paladin’s. His skin was clammy, and much paler than usual with splotches of red mixed in like someone had shot a white wall with a flaming paintball gun.

Lance reached for Keith’s neck, to take off the layer of black that covered him.

“No!” Keith reacted viciously, pushing Lance away with all of his might and grabbing at the material. It hadn’t been skin that had been torn away in his dream. Lance must have been trying to take off his clothes.

“Keith, you have to-”

Keith shrieked again and collapsed in a corner, pressed against the wall as much as possible. His hand fisted the black suit tightly, until he felt it begin to constrict his breathing (even more than it already was, from his panic).

Lance had never seen him like that. Frankly, it scared him, but he knew something was _wrong._ So he stomped his way to the corner where Keith shrunk down even lower as the shadow passed over him.

“Keith.” Lance said, gently, stooping down to his eye level.

The boy buried his face further into his arms. _Here it comes…_

“Bud… you’re obviously sick. You might have heat exhaustion or something- I…” Lance sighed. “I need to help you, alright? I just want to make sure you don’t -” _‘Die.’_ Lance almost said. “- ...get sick.”

With a ragged inhale that rattled his bones, Keith mustered up the best glare he could give. Frankly, it was one of his weakest looks with the state he was in.

“I’m fine.”

“No. Take off your clothes.”

“ _No!”_ Keith shouted, screamed almost, and Lance jumped at the raw sound of fear.

“Okay- okay… But I need to bring your temperature down. Can I help you?”

Keith shivered again, and his body lurched. Everything was too loud, too hot, and too… overwhelming.

“Buddy?”

Keith jerked forward, curling over and cradling his belly. Lance quickly moved to his side, laying a gentle hand to rest on his back. The red paladin flinched. His stomach was killing him, and he couldn’t think straight. His pounding head and heart weren’t helping either, and Keith tried to force his hand to stop shaking.

He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again as the feeling of nausea only grew.

Lance was saying something, but he couldn’t hear him- couldn’t _think._

Keith grabbed onto the lanky boy’s shoulder. “Please…” He wanted to whisper. “What do you think of me?” He wanted to question.

But he couldn’t. His stomach was on fire; the pounding drum that was his heart seemed to resonate in his soul. His body heaved one more time, and he was acutely aware that he was throwing up by the smell and the sharp inhale from the other body.

He went numb for a while, and stopped his trembling. Lance wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, with how frighteningly pale and warm Keith was. Desperately, he looked around the cave for something to help him.

The communicator!

Keith, being the smart cookie that he was, had brought his helmet with him. Like Lance should have.

No time to dwell on past mistakes. He dragged Keith away from the throw up and sat him near the equipment. After insuring that the boy wouldn’t pass out, Lance dove for the com and pressed the correct series of buttons to start up a link.

He willed his voice not to shake. “Shiro? Allura?”

It was a few seconds before he heard someone shuffling on the other end.

“What’s the matter, Lance?” Shiro asked, worry already mixed in with his voice.

“Keith- he… I…” Lance slowly took a deep breath, and started over. “Keith got sick, I think. I’m going to try and take him back to the Lions, but… he doesn’t look good.”

“No, that’s a bad idea. If he’s really sick, just keep him there. I’ll have the princess set a point on your position, so stay on the channel. Okay?” Shiro asked, and it already sounded like he was running towards his own Lion.

“Yeah… okay.” Lance shook his head to clear the tumbled thoughts. “Roger. See you soon.”

He turned back to Keith, who seemed to have calmed down a bit after his outburst. He still was dangerously pale, though.

“Hey, Keith… I’m gonna get you some water, okay?” Lance tried in his gentlest tone of voice. His hand hovered over the other’s shoulder, but then thought against it. “Just lay down for a little, alright?”

Keith didn’t respond, so Lance lightly pressed against his shoulder. Keith snatched himself away from the touch.

“Hey, hey. It’s alright. We’re cool. I just want you to rest until some help comes. Can you lay down for me?” Lance asked, pushing Keith’s head up to look him in the eye. They were glassy, bloodshot, and he saw the tears welling up in them.

“L-lay down?” Keith asked, his voice trembling and hoarse.

“Yep. Can you do that?”

Keith closed his eyes, and Lance thought he was about to pass out until his body sluggishly pulled itself into a fetal position on the ground.

Lance tucked a tuft of black hair behind his ear. “Good… You’re gonna be okay.”

Those words were the last thing Keith heard before he allowed his mind to drown everything else out. He heard nothing but the roar of his own blood pumping through his veins, and his body felt cold and detached from his psyche.

He fell asleep then. Or at least, he was pretty sure of it, because when he woke up he was falling out of a healing pod and being steadied by a strong shoulder and steady hands.

He was still wearing the same clothes, _thank god_. The jeering, the hate… It had just been a dream.

Lance breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re okay, Keith.” He said, and his hands pressed against his chest, keeping him upright as Keith’s knees buckled.

Keith groaned, resting his weight against Lance. He licked his lips, rubbing at his eye with the heel of his hand. “Did I get sick or something?”

“Yep.” Lance was walking (shambling) down the hallway, supporting Keith’s dead weight as best he could. “You were in the pod for about an hour, so it wasn’t that bad. I was worried as hell when you started throwing up though.” He laughed nervously. “I never was a good nurse.”

Keith rolled his shoulders and started to regain feeling in his body. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Like I said, I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.” They stopped in front of Keith’s door, and the red paladin stumbled inside. “You need any help?”

Keith looked at him, and Lance waggled his eyebrows. “N-no… No. I’m fine.”

“Oh… okay. Holler if you need anything.”

He received one last worried look, before the door shut with a mechanical hiss. With wobbly legs, he collapsed on the bed and pushed his face into his cool pillow. He just wanted to get this day over with and never think about it again.

For now, he was happy nobody had seen him. Ecstatic, even. Tomorrow, everything would go back to normal, and he would never have to worry about someone seeing him naked from now on.

He would just have to take a lot of care not to get overheated again. Or shot. Or stabbed.

He sighed a soft ‘whatever’ and rolled back out of bed to change. Shiro would probably want to know he was okay, now that he was out of the pod.

With a grunt, he rolled out of bed and began to slowly peel the damp suit off. He forced himself to look in the mirror, and all he saw was a hollow thing with abysmal features. He threw the wet cloth at the mirror and closed his eyes.

Blindly, he found his way to a mound of clothes he’d never put into drawers and pulled on his regular outfit. Only when he’d struggled for ten minutes with his gloves did he open his eyes again.

Then, he slapped his hands against his cheeks, letting the sting and the sharp sound ground him. “You’re okay.” He rolled his shoulders back, lifted his chin and opened the door, hiding the ache in his chest with his normal scowl, and tried to pretend everything was normal.

He rough-housed with Lance, and was pleased when that worried look dissipated into irritation. Pidge somehow convinced him to fight test a robot she’d been working on, and it kicked his ass. Hunk, with help from Coran and Allura, created a dish for him that somehow packed dozens of vitamins and minerals into a delicious medley that melted into his mouth. When Hunk tried it, Keith was sure he cried. Shiro sparred with Keith at his request and, though he was going easier on the younger paladin than usual, was pleased when Keith got the best of him and ended up on his back.

Everything was normal, everyone was happy. But all he could see when he closed his eyes was that recessed creature from his mirror squinting back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind wanna rewrite Touch My Body after this, because the characterization totally changed while I wrote this and Watership Down, and I feel the two Keith's are so different uwu but FUCK IT
> 
> did u know i wrote the word keith exactly 99 times throughout this entire story?

**Author's Note:**

> i have a tumblr [here](https://jamthedingus.tumblr.com) if u wanna talk to me about things (it's sometimes nsfw)


End file.
